Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Loggers

Greg and Andrew are headed out to collect firewood and fish. Hopefully they will get some silver salmon action. The weather has been the worst that I have seen all summer. It is expected to rain all through the weekend, but hopefully there will be a lot of dry times for them. They will be out searching for logs until next Friday.
The kids are not used to saying goodbye to daddy.





Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Falconeer and Salmonberries


Ruby has honestly turned into a really good berry picker. She is especially careful not to spill the berry's this year.

Yummy Salmonberries, I feel really fortunate to find these berries because they are only here for a short time, and they are hard to find by foot.
We had heard there was a man that trained Falcons. I was so excited to run into him while berry picking. He says that the falcon has to wear a leather helmet so that it does not fly away.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Kwethluk River-Elbow Mountain

Elbow Mountain from a distance, this is my destination point, although Greg had enough gas to make it to Timbuktu. Below: These are the US Department of Fish and Wildlife and the research camp area. We met a married couple from Montana up here, the wife was studying the impact of beavers on salmon viability, and the husband worked for fish and wildlife. They say they don't see anyone this far up. The river was beautiful, and the scenery changed quite a bit from the last campsite a few weeks ago.


This wolf was standing on the gravel bar across from where we were fishing. It starred at us for some time, ate some grass, sniffed around and then left our site. It was pretty big looking.

Greg caught a big rainbow. We thought it was a comparable size to the one he caught on the Kasiglak river.
My fishing day was geared towards catching a big salmon. Dog salmon was all that I could get to bite. I saw what I believe to be king, and sockeye jumping and swimming near my lure but they would not bite. I was practically hitting the sockeye in the head with my lure, and they seemed more annoyed with me then willing to play. The color of the sockeye was bright red body with green face. There is a king fishing restriction on the kwethluk so I am not sure if I was looking at the King, so I called them pink salmon, and was trying to catch one to see what was lurking in the water that gave off such a beautiful pink glow.
Above and below: This was a big dog salmon that nearly sprained my wrist. No joke. My right arm is killing me. It took some time to get this fish in to shore. All I kept hearing Greg say was "keep reeling, don't stop reeling," and the kids were chanting "reel, reel, reel." Now I get the draw of fishing. I turned into a fishing maniac after this fish.
Same fish. pretty.

Ruby consulting with Moxy on what their game plan is going to be for the day.


This bear was swimming on a gravel bar diagonal from where we were fishing. It kind of saw us, but seemed more busy being a bear.
Greg caught an interesting colored rainbow. Very pink. we are not sure why it had turned so pink, maybe it migrated from the ocean.




We are trying out our new rain/shade shelter by Kelty. Seemed to do what we needed it to do, but we are not sure how it will hold up in stormy weather. We called it the head quarters, which really frustrated Ruby because she kept looking for quarters (coins) under it and could not find any.


Moxy playing with his boat. He had no diaper on under his shirt. He hates wearing shoes and other clothing.
Ruby enjoying wading in the water.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Afternoon at the beach...fish camp.

We spent the afternoon's at Carolyn's family fishcamp, but I felt like we were at the ocean. I thought this was a great camp set up for her 2 week old Cole. She is sitting on a rocking camp chair with a bug net attached to the tent roof.
Eating hotdogs.
Lieb children trying to teach Ruby and Moxy how to swim in the river.


Thursday, July 8, 2010

Baby Ducks

these are green winged teal ducks that just hatched. :) I knew that there was a pair mating in our back yard earlier in the summer, but I thought a big dog got to them and ate them. It was nice to see that the family is still alive. They got pretty territorial over the drainage ditch area. Started resting near the area that I am trying to build a retaining wall.
Backyard continues to be a work in progress. But the birds love all the trees and bugs. We are trying to make the back yard as natural as possible, but with enough room for the kids to play. Most of this area will be covered with dirt soon. We have already had two loads of dirt delivered this year.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Reading/Play Loft

Greg took the family king size loft and converted it into a reading and play loft for the kids. It fits nicely in the corner of the living room.

perspective from the dining room. The kids seem really excited about it.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Birds and drainage issues...what to do?

We have been trying to attract birds into our back yard, and we finally got the bird we were hoping for....introducing Mr. Pine Grosbeak. I actually noticed this bird when he came to our back yard and started whistling in my face. As soon as I fed him he stopped whistling and seemed very content.


Maybe a female Pine Grosbeak due to the coloring.


This is some type of yellow warbler. There are numerous types of yellow warblers around here, and in fact this may be it's official name for all that I know. I am not sure how to attract more of these birds, but they are hidden in the bushes near the water, and due occasional fly byes.
Our back yard. There is a small fire pit in the middle, and behind the fire pit are two groups of willow trees that I surrounded with rocks. There is a path leading to a aluminum siding and water. I am trying to raise this area with loads of dirt. Very long process and my body is aching from the wheel barrow pushing. I am starting to see the drainage issues. Not sure what to do, except go with the water issue and build a mote in between the group of trees and build a land bridge along the path. Haven't decided how I will handle the situation, as I feel like more dirt will create more drainage issues. What do you think dad?